The Rookie

Clint Eastwood has made film history in two genres: The Western and Police/Cop movies with him either starring or directing (or both) in some memorable roles. There’s Dirty Harry Callahan, of course. The Outlaw Josey Wales. The Man With No Name. Sheriff Walt Coogan from “Coogan’s Bluff” the movie that was the inspiration for TV’s “McCloud”

However, nobody remembers Clint Eastwood’s one and only entry in a subgenre of the Police/Cop movie: The Buddy Cop Movie which enjoyed immense popularity during the 80’s and the 90’s. Roger Ebert likes to call Buddy Cop Movies ‘Wunza Movies’. As in “One’s a…” which is how a description of a Buddy Cop Movie usually starts. Buddy Cop Movies are ridiculously simple to make. Two cops, exact opposites in attitude, styles and personality are teamed up. They hate each other. During the course of their case (a case that you just know they’ll be kicked off of) they grow to respect and even like each other. Its friendship/male bonding through bullets, explosions and disregarding civil rights and it’s all good. The best example of The Buddy Cop Movie is without a doubt the classic “Lethal Weapon” series but Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen took a whack at it with THE ROOKIE.

Nick Pulovski (Clint Eastwood) is a veteran L.A. cop hot on the track of Strom (Raul Julia) a high level chop shop operator. He’s got them spread out all over the city and employs a team of expert car thieves to supply him with product. Nick interrupts a robbery in which his partner (Hal Williams) is killed. Nick naturally wants to go after Strom and put him away for life but the case is taken away from him since he works auto theft and due to his partner’s murder, the case has been bumped up to Homicide.

That doesn’t sit well with Nick and he likes it even less that his new partner is the fresh out of the Police Academy rookie David Ackerman (Charlie Sheen) who comes to work in Armani suits and is from an enormously wealthy family.

In the best tradition of Buddy Cop Movies, Nick ignores the orders of his commanding officer and sets out to put the hammer down on Strom anyway, dragging a reluctant David along with him. During the course of the case they’ll share tender moments while facing down a bar full of Hispanic bikers, battling attack dogs, getting bushwhacked, tortured and raped by Strom’s enforcer Liesl (Sonia Braga and yes, I’m getting to the rape bit, be patient) surviving explosions huge enough to level city blocks and one apocalyptic shootout after another in which vertical blizzards of bullets are fired at them. Not to mention their own personal demons. But if they survive they’ll have a friendship stronger than marriage. Which is really what these types of movies are all about, really. Solving the case comes secondary to the heartwarming story of an Odd Couple pairing of cops becoming bosom buddies and life long pals.

Not that Nick and David actually solve anything, mind you. Their style of police work is to methodically kill all the bad guys until there’s nobody left to arrest. I think this is one of the few modern day cop movies where I’ve never heard Miranda invoked once. And search warrants are a joke. At one point Nick freely admits to David that he’s put an illegal wiretap on Strom because he knows no judge will authorize a legit tap. It’s that kinda movie.

Clint Eastwood doesn’t so much create a character as embody the cliché traits we’ve come to see in this type of movie. Failed marriage? Check. Alcohol dependency issues? Check. Flouting and downright ignoring proper police procedure and regulations? Check. But he does seem to be having a good time amid all the explosions and gunfights. And I could be wrong but I think this is perhaps the most violent movie Eastwood has ever directed and starred in. And if you’ve seen as many Eastwood movies as I have, that’s saying something. Even by today’s standards this is an extremely brutal and violent movie and by the end, Nick and David are as shot up, beaten and bloody as the bad guys they’ve spent the last thirty minutes of the movie killing.

And then there’s the scene that everybody who saw the movie during its original theatrical run remembers: the scene where Sonia Braga’s Liesl sadistically and ritualistically cuts a tightly tied-up Nick with a razor blade then proceeds to stimulate him to an erection. As to what happens next…well, let’s just say it’s not everyday you’re going see a scene like that in a movie and it’s a jaw-dropper for sure. Not as jaw-dropping as the scene where the baby-faced Charlie Sheen takes on an entire barroom full of bikers as well as a couple of bloodthirsty pit bulls but it’s up there, that’s for sure.

Sonia Braga really has a lot of fun playing Liesl and she is so stunningly beautiful even while she’s mowing down innocent bystanders in an airport terminal with an Uzi. Sonia Braga back then was what Salma Hayek is now and if you’ve ever seen her in a movie, I think you’ll agree. Raul Julia plays the bad guy with tightly controlled relish and one of the most puzzling things about the movie is that Strom and Liesl are supposed to be German even though their crew is predominantly Hispanic and they speak with Hispanic accents.

Charlie Sheen gets a lot of screen time mid way through the movie since Eastwood gets captured and held for ransom by the bad guys so Sheen goes on a rampage to try and find his partner. How much of Sheen’s tough guy act you buy is strictly up to you, of course, but damn if he doesn’t look like he’s having a good time doing all this crazy action stuff.

So should you see THE ROOKIE? Sure. It’s a movie that never seems to get mentioned whenever a list of favorite Clint Eastwood movies are put together but it’s a well made actioner with plenty of terrific stunts, fight scenes and clever enough dialog that I think it’s worth a rental. And it’s downright fun to see Eastwood’s version of a Buddy Cop Movie. There’s also a bunch of very good support from acting favorites of mine such as Pepe Serna, Lara Flynn Boyle, Xander Berkeley and Paul Ben-Victor. Watch and enjoy.

121 minutes

Rated R: And boy, does it earn its rating in terms of language and violence. For the animal lovers out there, be advised that there are scenes of dog fighting so don’t say I didn’t warn you